The 5 Best Items to Buy in Bulk

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Is buying in bulk best? The only way you’ll know is if you learn the “real” price of items on your shopping list. Another important factor? Having the space in your home to store items in bulk and the opportunity to use everything before it goes bad.

There’s no reason to stock up on meat, produce, or dairy that you just end up throwing out. Then you’re wasting money, not saving it. That said, here are the five items that I believe are best to buy in bulk, given those aforementioned qualifications of storage and ability to use items before their expiration date.

Paper towels. I’ve found that if I can get paper towels for less than $1 a roll, then I’ve gotten a good price. For example, Staples recently had 20 rolls of paper towels in a bundle for $15.99, or about $.80 per roll. Store brands like the Total Home brand from CVS can also be cheap in bulk—12 rolls for $9.49 or $.79 per roll at CVS. Personally, I often use rags in lieu of paper towels to save overall. However, when I do find a good price, I’ll buy paper towels to keep on hand, just in case.

Meat. Some of the cheapest prices I’ve seen on meat were at warehouse clubs. Last summer I attended a back-to-school shopping event at a local BJ’s Wholesale Club and snapped the picture shown above, of Perdue chicken thighs at $.99 per pound. Now, granted, at a warehouse club you’re buying meat in 10-pound packages. But if you divide and freeze using something like the Food Saver, then it makes sense. I mean, this package has 24 chicken thighs in it. Forget the per-pound price—this allows you to make meat at about a quarter a serving! Another way to save on meat: buy direct from a company like Zaycon Foods. There you can get 93 percent fresh ground beef in bulk for $3.49 per pound. (My local supermarket usually sells it for $4.99 per pound.)

Coffee. I recently wrote how coffee prices in 2014 are expected to fall, making coffee something that will be cheaper in 2014. A sure way to keep your coffee budget in line is to buy in bulk. The cheapest way to do that is to buy whole beans, always cheaper than ground coffee, and grind them yourself. If you have a Keurig machine, look for boxes of K-Cups that work out to an average price of $.50 or less per cup for a good bulk price. Even better: buy a reusable, refillable K-Cup that you fill with your own coffee, bringing your per-cup price down about 90 percent!

Bottled water. I don’t advocate buying bottled water as a one-off, when using a refillable bottle will always be cheaper and save you money in the long run. However, if you must buy bottled water—say you’re having a party—buying it in bulk is definitely the way to go. My local CVS will often have a 24-pack of 16-ounce bottles of water for $2.99 or about 12 cents per bottle. If you buy bottled water at a warehouse club like Sam’s Club or Costco, you’ll often get a bigger pack for a cheaper price. Sam’s Club, for example, sells a 40-pack of water for $3.98 or about 10 cents per bottle.

Diapers. My husband and I joined our first warehouse club when our daughters were babies, and we were in the diaper-buying phase of parenthood. We found that buying diapers in bulk was cheaper than buying smaller boxes at the supermarket, and that still holds true. At Costco, for example, you can get the Costco brand Kirkland Diapers (a box of 210) for 19 cents per diaper. Even Huggies diapers go for the same price (19 cents per diaper in a box of 210). At Target you’ll pay 22 cents per Huggies diaper (a box of 156), when the diapers are on sale. A three-cent difference may not seem like much, but since Toys R Us estimates that the average baby goes through 3,360 diapers in that first year, that adds up to $100 in savings.

If you’ve found other items that you believe are good to buy in bulk, let me know. If I hear from enough people, I’ll write a follow-up post, sharing your stories and suggestions.